Japanese Roof Tiles Kawara

The origin of japanese kawara was brought from china via korea in the late 6th century with the arrival of buddhism.

Japanese roof tiles kawara.

The japanese roof tiles called kawara are one of the most noticeable elements of the japanese landscape especially in kyoto which still has many traditional houses. These decorave ornaments often have meanings like keeping away bad spirits to protect the house etc. This type of roof is known as kawara yane 瓦屋根 in japanese. Often the functional and decorative tiles were enhanced with additional tiles such as oni gawara roof peak face end tiles featuring gargoyle like devilish faces supposed to frighten off evil spirits and protect the home.

Kawara traditional roof tiles of japan not only keep the rain out they have personality meaning and spiritual symbolism. It is thought that the oldest kawara were used in asuka temple in nara prefecture south of kyoto. Other products offered are heat and sound insulation of the highest r value and solar power solutions for residential homes. What exactly is a kawara.

Roofs of japanee traditional houses are generally covered with ceramic tiles called kawara 瓦 and these are often decorated with the decorative ornaments like shachihoko 鯱. Karakusa gawara or on the roof corner peaks featured in japanese architecture. You cannot travel to japan without noticing the tidiness attention to detail and deliberate use of design to improve the look of dull and everyday objects to create a beautiful living environment. These roof tiles have high cultural importance since they have been decorating the japanese scenery for more than 1 400 years.

The purpose of japanese roof tiles is to prevent evil from coming into the home temple castle.